Micro bugs living on my plants! What are they?

[HenryC]

Hi guys!

Upon doing a water change today, I noticed these colonies of ultra tiny bugs. They're so tiny I had to take out the macro lens, yet I still had trouble trying to focus one lol (even smaller than a grain of table salt!). Sorry for the shaky video.

What are those? Are they harmless? They're living on the leaves of my gigantic amazon sword motherplant (it is so big, there are leaves starting to go out of the surface.)

Here's a video of the little critters:

And here are some regular cellphone shots of the plant as well of the colony as seen to the naked eye:

http://imgur.com/a/8mq9d6L

 

[Ghelfaire]

First of all what camera are you using? That video is amazing.
Secondly they are probably a species of copeopod. Harmless and fish will eat them.

 

[Donovan Jones]

My guess is seed shrimp and baby scuds, pending a week or 2 to see if they gro

 

[HenryC]

First of all what camera are you using? That video is amazing.
Secondly they are probably a species of copeopod. Harmless and fish will eat them.

Thanks! It is a Panasonic Lumix GX85 with an olympus macro lens.

Someone in another place told me they might be something called "globular springtails", and that they're harmless and are commonly found in crops and real humid places! Fascinating to see all the different life that an aquarium supports! Here's a page on them: Dicyrtomina - Wikipedia

 

[Feohw]

Yes, globular springtails. I have some in my tank too, as well as the elongated springtails. They can walk along the surface of the water. I find them to be pretty cute, and they do no harm. Some fish will even eat them if they can catch them. Which isn't too easy as they are capable of jumping a few inches away when threatened.